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JANUARY 20, 1991 by Larry Stout  1/20/08
Few dates are as important to me as the 20th of January. It was on that date seventeen years ago that my family and I embarked on a historic mission to what was then the Soviet Union. We were the first American family to live in the capital city of Riga and very possibly the first officially recognized missionaries to the USSR. (“Officially” recognized in that the KGB apparently did not flag our visa application as they should have when we listed ‘missionary’ as our occupation!)
I remember the chaos of trying to check in five people and nineteen pieces of luggage at JFK airport, of the tearful goodbyes to our family, of the long layover in Helsinki awaiting our Riga connection, and then the twilight flight into Riga itself. Though I had been to the city three times before, it seemed different that night. In some incredibly strange way, I felt like I was going home.

THE FIRE OF LEADERSHIP by Larry Stout
I celebrated my 55th birthday on October 25th, and my mind always turns to the fact that this day was once known as the Feast Day of St. Crispin. On this day in 1415, Henry V and his underdog British, outmanned at least four to one, fought and won a crushing defeat over Charles VI of France at the Battle of Agincourt. Though this salient fact would certainly carry little notice beyond very serious undergraduate history majors, it does stand out because William Shakespeare chose this particular event to shape his stirring play, Henry V. The eve before the battle, Shakespeare portrays Henry disguising himself and listening to the comments of the troops as they curl up around their campfires. They know they are outnumbered and few expect to be alive the next day. You can almost feel Henry’s blood begin to boil as he hears these men expressing their true hearts.

The Mystery of the Lost Sock by Larry Stout
I took the laundry out of the dryer and set about to separate my wife’s clothes from mine. Everything was fine until I saw that I was missing a black sock. I was absolutely positive that every sock had a match when I collected the clothes, when they were put in the washer, and again when they went into the dryer. I checked and rechecked the washer and dryer, and there was no sock there. It just…vanished!
Of course, I did not lose much sleep over the lost sock, but it kept bugging me. What happened to the matching sock? There is something about ambiguity that bothers the human mind. We believe that we have the necessary information, and we should be able to come up with an answer. Instead – there is mystery.

“Missions Possible, Part 3” by Larry Stout
In the first two parts of this series, I discussed the necessity for both long-term and short-term missionaries, as well as how important it is to support the long-term missionary on the field. The responsibility for this support is generally designated to a missions board in a church. It is a very inconvenient truth that missions boards are probably the weakest link in the entire spectrum of missions.
Most missions boards fall into two different groups, which could be termed the Micro-managers and the Macro-managers. The Micros are those who actively work very hard to supply the tools the resident missionary needs to accomplish their work. The major denominations such as the Southern Baptist and Assemblies of God pride themselves in making sure their missionaries are well supplied. They make sure the missionaries are financially secure, that they get needed rest, and that they receive periodic visits from their supervisors for assistance and encouragement.

“Missions Possible, Part 2” by Larry Stout
I had spoken at a church in the USA and afterwards was greeting the people after the service.  One lady commented to me, “It must be easy for you now on the mission field after all these years.”  I thought to myself, “Oh yes, it is easy to live for months at a time thousands of miles from your loved ones, in a country that speaks two languages that defy your comprehension, constantly dealing with a host of petty government bureaucrats on an almost daily basis, and all the time depending on the uncertainties of financial support.”  I did not have the heart to tell her that far from getting easier, it actually got more difficult with the passage of time.

“Missions Possible” by Larry Stout
I was probably asked the same question one hundred times – “Larry, what is like to be visiting Latvia?” To be honest, it did feel strange. After all, while living there for over fifteen years we had owned a home, raised three children, adopted another and for the most part held ‘regular’ jobs. Now I was there in Riga for a very limited time, living in an apartment house for professors, and had a schedule that gave me very little opportunity to do much outside of my assigned duties.
For two decades I have been doing mission work, both short-term and long-term. I realized that both serve an important function. There is a body of missionologists who claim that the day of the long-term missionary is over. From my perspective, I wholeheartedly disagree. Right now, there is a crying need for a resident director for the Baltic Reformed Theological Seminary, and it ideally should be by someone from Europe or North America. In Latvia alone, there are at least five positions I know of that would be greatly served by someone who would be willing to commit to a minimum of two to three years. Those who argue that these positions could be filled by nationals are right if we lived in a ‘perfect’ world – however in the real world, it often takes a pioneer who is willing to till the ground ahead of time so that the national can then take over.

“Peace of What?” by Larry Stout
Revisiting Latvia again has reminded me of the importance of language and the meaning of words. In one of my classes on communication, I show a video clip from the film, “General’s Daughter.” In this segment, an Army investigator, Paul Brenner, is interviewing the director of PsyOps (Psychological Operations) at an army post named Col Moore because the colonel’s female colleague has been brutally murdered.
“Did you work together on a daily basis, “ asked Brenner.
“Of course,” responded Moore.
“Did you…play together”?

A FIFTY-YEAR LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE BIBLE by Larry Stout
Amidst all the hard work of going through items that had been in storage for a decade and a half, one of the great surprises was finding my childhood Bible. The inscription stated that he was awarded to me in 1957 for perfect attendance in Sunday School by my church. I held that Bible in my hands and a flood of memories overwhelmed me.
It is a King James Bible, but was considered a ‘children’s Bible’ because of the colorful pictures contained in it. I remember how I use to treat that book with reverence. It had come in a box and I used to keep it in the box whenever I was not reading it. Unlike other children who used to only touch their bibles on Sundays when they would take them to Sunday School, I can remember often reading my Bible during the week. The irony was that the Bible was given to me at least a year before I could even read. But I could make out words like “God” and “Jesus” and I can remember enjoying finding those words in the Bible. As my reading skills began to develop, I used to ‘test’ them by reading the Scriptures. In my childlike faith, I believed that this book was my link to God. The song confirmed this, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the bible tells me so.”

LESSONS LEARNED ON THE JOURNEY by Larry Stout
My very good friend, Bob Snyder, has a e-devotional that has the same title as this article, "Lessons Learned on the Journey." I always found that expression appropriate, but in the five months since Debbie and I have left Latvia, it is especially fitting. I am currently on my sixth major trip, three international and three domestic, and traveling has caused me to see life a bit differently than I had before.
In my Bible studies, I noticed how many times God has His people on the move. Starting with Adam and Eve who were driven from the Garden of Eden, to Abraham who was called to leave his homeland and travel to Canaan, on through the journeys of the children of Israel from Egypt, up to the New Testament with the missionary trips of the Apostle Paul – it is obvious that the Lord keeps his people on the go. The last command that Jesus gave his disciples on this earth was to "go." (Matthew 28:18)

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD – ONE PERSON AT A TIME by Larry Stout
I have a vision. It is a simple vision. I want to change the way the world understands leadership. Now, if there is a saturated topic in the world of non-fiction, it is leadership. There are at least 2000 new books per year written on this subject. And these are often by major heads of organizations or professors at leading universities or potential presidential candidates and individuals of that nature. It would seem safe to say that I have embarked on a quest that would make Don Quixote blush.
But, I believe that great movements can begin with one person. Winston Churchill once said that one man with courage makes a majority. This is the attitude that the Lord has gifted me. I truly believe that if I continue to be faithful to the task set before me, I can see my vision begin to become a reality.